Tag: insomnia

Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Things to Do While Listening to An Audiobook

GoodeyReads

For Top Ten Tuesday this week it’s an Audiobook freebie! I’ve thought all week about what I wanted to do and finally this idea popped into my head.

Some people are wary of audiobooks (I totally was too), but now I see how much other stuff I can do while listening to one! It’s multi-tasking at its finest. Put an audiobook on and get down to whatever business you need to.

So here’s a list of 10 things that you can do while listening to an audiobook!

Laundry

I’m one of those weird people who enjoys laundry. I love an empty basket and all the clothes put away (even if it only lasts a few hours, okay who am I kidding, 5 minutes). My favorite thing to do is play an audiobook while folding clothes! Makes everything go by much faster.

Shower

May be crazy sounding, but I figured out if I put my phone in a certain spot I can hear it well AND shower! Taking me time to a whole new level. Or better yet if you have a waterproof speaker you can easily listen that way.

Insomnia (Or whatever is keeping you up late)

Maybe it’s been a long day, but your mind won’t rest. Maybe you’re a parent who needs to rock a child back to sleep. This is a great chance to pop in some headphones and listen softly to a favorite audiobook. I used to do this when I was nursing our little one and loved it!

Exercise

This was one of the first ways I utilized audiobooks. I run a lot (or did – as I’m still in a boot *sigh*). I digress, this was a great way to spend the time! If I’m feeling it, I’ll listen while I lift weights or do some yoga.

Driving

Road trippers unite! My husband travels a lot for work and I convinced him to try out audiobooks and he really enjoyed it. I do as well, especially because it means no commercials. Get in the car, put on a book, an be on your way.

Instagram/Blogging

A new way I’ve been adding listening to my day is to do so while I’m taking Instagram photos (or scrolling forever). I’ve also added in listening while I’m blogging. Since I don’t have to be super focused on these tasks I can easily take in both!

Relax

I don’t know if you’ve experienced this, but occasionally my eyes/head will hurt from all the reading I’ve done (especially if I have read a lot in one day). What’s great about audiobooks is that you can close your eyes, let your head relax and still get reading done!

Cooking

Sometimes I listen to music while making dinner, but if not, I’ll put a book on! It’s a great way to spend the time and make cooking not seem like a chore (for me it can be some days).

Hobby/Craft

If you’re into jigsaw puzzles as much as I am, this is a great opportunity! Or coloring in a book, sewing, stitching, whatever you’re good at doing! Even better, learn a new craft while you’re listening!

Work

Since I’m a stay-at-home Mom right now, my job consists of keeping a tiny human alive. I try to keep the TV off for most of the day, so I’ll play a book we can listen to while playing! At your office (or other environment) you could listen while on break, or lunch, or even while working!

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Book Review

Review: Archenemies (Renegades #2) by Marissa Meyer

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Archenemies

 

Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: YA Fantasy/Sci-fi, no language, a kiss scene, violence
Length: 560 pages
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel Friends
Release Date: November 6th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Renegades Trilogy continues, in this fiercely awaited second installment after the New York Times-bestselling Renegades by Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles.

Time is running out.
Together, they can save the world.
But they each other’s worst nightmare.

In Renegades, Nova and Adrian (aka Insomnia and Sketch) fought the battle of their lives against the Anarchist known as the Detonator. It was a short-lived victory.

The Anarchists still have a secret weapon, one that Nova believes will protect her. The Renegades also have a strategy for overpowering the Anarchists, but both Nova and Adrian understand that it could mean the end of Gatlon City – and the world – as they know it.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

DARN YOU, BOOK 2 SYNDROME.

Y’all, why. Don’t get me wrong, I’m buying the third book because crap will hit the fan since nothing happened in this book. I now fully expect (I know, should be keeping expectations low) the final installment to be a worthy tale since there is going to be a loooot to cover in 500+ pages.

I rarely know if an author has to make more books than they planned, or if it was originally intended to be a certain length, but really. This could’ve been a duology.

I’ll start with things I didn’t mind and enjoyed!

  • Watching Nova and Adrian try to flirt was so precious, and I definitely found myself chuckling occasionally.
  • The last 100 pages when the action picked up and sped through to the finale.
  • The scenes where everyone were friends/family, just doing friends/family stuff. I always like peaceful scenes interspersed with the drama.

Now this is where I get on the struggle bus:

  • WHERE WAS THE ACTION? For a long book, about heroes/villains no less, I expected so much more. Nothing essentially happened until the last, last section of the book where Nova started going through with the plans she made in the FIRST book. We spent the entire book talking about plans, to do this, that, blah blah blah. Someone do something!?
  • While I thought all the flirting was cute, this book was entirely focused on their will they/won’t they scenario. Fine, that’s totally fine, but like my previous bullet I was going for more and thought this should have taken a back seat. I personally was set on this being an action based book and was disappointed it felt more romance-ish.
  • Some of the characters were/became so disappointing. Ah man, I’m still fuming about it. So I don’t dive into spoilers, you’ll see what I mean.

The third book, I desperately hope, will be a real page turner. There were some scenes I completely expected to happen that fell through, that we all know HAVE TO HAPPEN AT SOME POINT. I was thinking it would happen earlier, but I’m still waiting to flush some character secrets out to really get the angst going.

Overall audience notes:
– Young adult fantasy, sci-fi
– No language
– Violence ranges based on prodigies ability
– Love is mostly teenage flirting, one kiss scene that is barely detailed